General Electric

General Electric is one of the world's largest corporations and is a major manufacturer and service provider spanning products from "jet engines to power generation, financial services to plastics, and medical imaging to news and information." The company has over 95 subsidiaries including GE Healthcare, GE Plastics, GE Security, General Electric Capital Corporation, NBC, MSNBC, Bravo, SCI FI Channel, USA Network, and Universal Studios.

PR and lobbying industry cleans up, Hudson River loses out
From 1990 to 2005, General Electric spent more than $122 million on public relations, lobbying and legal efforts "to fight demands that it clean up three contaminated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) sites," reports O'Dwyer's. The three sites are "a 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River (the nation's biggest Superfund site), Housatonic River (Pittsfield, MA) and a transformer facility (Rome, GA)." 

GE's disclosure comes after a decade of pressure from the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, a coalition of Roman Catholic groups that filed shareholder resolutions requesting the information. Coalition director Patricia Daly said the money could "have gone a long, long way in cleaning up the problem," had it not been "wasted on PR, lobbying and courtroom delaying tactics." The Environmental Protection Agency ordered GE to clean up the Hudson in 2002.

"In October 2005, more than 20 years after the EPA designated the Hudson River among the worst Superfund sites, GE agreed in a settlement to begin dredging the river. The EPA estimated that dredging the toxic sediment would cost $700 million by the time the project was complete. But the agreement obligates GE for costs only in the first year, which could allow the company to avoid $600 million in cleanup costs, according to Leo Rosales, who was an EPA spokesman at the time".

Tobacco industry involvement
General Electric worked with Philip Morris circa 1984-1985 to provide a power source for a confidential non-combusting smoking article "that can satisfy smokers without the properties of conventional cigarettes such as sidestream smoke. Philip Morris was interested in using "photoflash bulbs" as heat or power sources for these experimental smoking articles, and obtained these from GE. The project was known internally at Philip Morris as Project Advance.

Labor Issues
The nonprofit economic research organization, Policy Matters Ohio, interviewed workers in 2007 in one of GE's Chinese suppliers and published a report of their findings in 2008. Xiamen Topstar Lighting Co., a joint venture of GE and China's Topstar, employs 6,000 people in Fujian Province making compact (and energy efficient) florescent lightbulbs for GE. GE's own audit of the factory in late 2007, Policy Matters Ohio investigators found a range of unfair and unsafe labor practices, including 64-hour workweeks without overtime pay or worker access to their own paystubs. Most seriously, workers were being exposed to mercury without their knowledge.

Coal
GE Energy Financial Services, GE's energy investing arm, owns 51.5% of the coal-fired Birchwood Power Facility near King George, Virginia. J-POWER acquired a 49.5% stake in the 242-megawatt power plant in May 2008.

GE invests in China IGCC project
On January 18, 2011, GE announced that it would be forming a "clean coal" technology joint venture in China with the Shenhua Group, a state-owned coal mining and energy company. The joint venture company will sell industrial coal gasification technology licenses, conduct research and development and develop facilities around integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). GE plans to announce over $2 billion in locomotives and other deals in China, as GE’s sales to China are growing at 20 percent a year. Khosla Ventures recently invested in clean coal startup Ciris Energy — which GE also backs.

Ecomagination
See the related article, General Electric's Ecomagination Campaign.

Ad boycott against Air America Radio
General Electric refused to advertise on the progressive Air America Radio. In October 2006, around 90 companies, including General Electric, told ABC Radio Networks that they did not want their ads to play on any radio station that carried Air America Radio.

Political contributions
General Electric's political action committee (PAC) gave $1,281,400 to federal candidates in the 05/06 election cycle - 37% to Democrats and 63% to Republicans.

Lobbying
GE spent $19,420,000 for lobbying in 2006. $4,050,000 of this total went to 39 outside lobbying firms including Ernst & Young, BKSH & Associates, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, and Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

Directors (2008)
Accessed November 2008:


 * James I. Cash, Jr.
 * William Castell
 * Ann M. Fudge
 * Claudio X. Gonzalez
 * Susan Hockfield
 * Jeffrey R. Immelt - Chair and CEO
 * Andrea Jung
 * Alan G. Lafley
 * Robert W. Lane
 * Ralph S. Larsen
 * Rochelle B. Lazarus
 * James J. Mulva
 * Sam Nunn
 * Roger S. Penske
 * Robert J. Swieringa
 * Douglas A. Warner III

Directors (2006)
Source 2006
 * Jeffrey R. Immelt - Chairman & CEO – GE
 * James I. Cash, Jr. - Director since 1997
 * Sir William Castell - Vice Chairman - Director since 2004
 * Ann M. Fudge - Director since 1999
 * Claudio X. Gonzalez - Director since 1993
 * Susan Hockfield - Director since 2006
 * Andrea Jung - Director since 1998
 * A. G. Lafley - Director since 2002
 * Robert W. Lane - Director since 2005
 * Ralph S. Larsen - Director since 2002
 * Rochelle B. Lazarus - Director since 2000
 * Sam Nunn - Director since 1997
 * Roger S. Penske - Director since 1994
 * Robert J. Swieringa - Director since 2002
 * Douglas A. Warner III - Director since 1992
 * Robert C. Wright - Vice Chairman - Director since 2000

Contact details
3135 Easton Turnpike Fairfield, CT 06828-0001 Phone: 203-373-2211 Fax: 203-373-313 Web: http://www.ge.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Climate Action Partnership
 * General Electric's Ecomagination Campaign
 * GE Energy
 * GE Water & Process Technologies
 * Greenwashing
 * Precautionary principle
 * Water Policy Institute
 * Owen D. Young - former president
 * Dale Frey - former CEO
 * Sir Ronald Grierson

External resources

 * Donohoe MT, GE - Bringing Bad Things to Life: Cradle to Grave Health Care and the Alliance between General Electric Medical Systems and New York-Presbyterian  Hospital, Synthesis/Regeneration 2006(Fall);41:31-3 (print version is  abridged version, web address above is for complete version with references.  An open-access Powerpoint is available at GE-NY-Presbyterian Hospital Agreement.ppt. No password necessary.

External articles

 * Steve Bailey, "Forget the elephant", Boston Globe, June 3, 2005.
 * "GE Opts for Disclosure", O'Dwyers PR Daily'', January 11, 2006.
 * Anthony DePalma, "G.E. Moves Ahead on Removal of PCBs From 2 Rivers, but Frustration Remains," New York Times, May 1, 2007.
 * Mary Milliken, "GE 'Green' Ecomagination Unit Gaining Ground--CEO," Reuters, May 25, 2007.
 * Pratap Chatterjee, "Climate Change Debate Fuels Greenwash Boom," CorpWatch, December 11, 2007.

resource_id=23524 resource_code=general_electric_co search_term=General Electric Company